High time for Tennessee to decriminalize pot

September 6, 2016 - Holding a bag of marijuana brought by MPD, Memphis City Councilman Martavius Jones asks Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings about the amount of pot it contains during a City Council committee meeting where Rallings tried to demonstrate what small-scale means in real terms regarding marijuana. Rallings opposes a City Council proposal to loosen penalties for small-scale marijuana possession. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

But users can't fatally overdose on pot. Alcohol is more likely to interact badly with other drugs. Medical studies have shown that marijuana is no more likely than PBR or Percocet to be a "gateway drug."

And yet the federal government, in its infinite wisdom, still considers marijuana to be more addictive and destructive than cocaine or methamphetamine.

More addictive and destructive than oxycodone and hydrocodone, the most prescribed opioids, which are being used and abused at epidemic levels.

More addictive and destructive than noncontrolled substances such as tobacco (480,000 related deaths a year), and alcohol (88,000 related deaths a year).

"Marijuana, on the other hand, kills almost no one," Dr. Aaron E. Carroll, professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, wrote last year in The New York Times. "The number of deaths attributed to marijuana use is pretty much zero."

He cited a study by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence that reported "alcohol use is a factor in 40 percent of all violent crimes in the United States."

"Although there are studies that can link marijuana to crime, it's almost all centered on its illegal distribution," Carroll wrote. "People who are high are not committing violence."

They are being arrested at a ridiculous rate, especially people of color who step one toke over the line.

African-Americans are four times more likely to be arrested on suspicion of marijuana possession than white Americans — and up to 10 times more likely in many urban counties.

That includes Shelby, where African-Americans represent about 52 percent of the population and 90 percent of all arrests for marijuana possession.

It's not surprising. Marijuana laws have always been enacted and enforced for racial reasons.

The first anti-marijuana laws were directed at Mexican migrants in the 1910s and 1920s. Marijuana paranoia peaked in the post-Prohibition 1930s.

That's when Harry Anslinger became the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Anslinger, a Prohibition agent, needed a new job and cause. In 1937, he persuaded Congress to criminalize marijuana nationwide.

"The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races," Anslinger said. "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers," Anslinger said.

"Their satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others."

Anti-reefer madness didn't ebb much. When President Nixon declared war on drugs in 1971, at the height of the Black Power and anti-war movements, he and Congress made marijuana Public Enemy No. 1.

"If the cannabis epidemic continues to spread," Sen. James Eastland of Mississippi warned his colleagues in 1974, "we may find ourselves saddled with a large population of semi-zombies — of young people acutely afflicted by the amotivational syndrome."

As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Eastland kept marijuana listed, along with heroin and LSD, as a Schedule 1 controlled substance in America.

Even after a commission appointed by Nixon unanimously recommended decriminalizing the possession and distribution of marijuana for personal use.

"Neither the marijuana user nor the drug itself can be said to constitute a danger to public safety," declared the 1972 Shafer Commission.

Eastland, who opposed integration and civil rights legislation, had to give up his daily Scotch and cigar when his health declined.

We need to give up our illusions about marijuana, as Bennie Cobb, retired captain in the Shelby County Sheriff's Department, said Thursday at a forum on decriminalization.

"It makes no sense to keep arresting and incarcerating people for small amounts of marijuana," he said. "It's time we find other ways to enforce victimless, nonviolent crimes."

High time.

1972 Federal Report

Findings of the 1972 National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse include:

No significant physical, biochemical, or mental abnormalities could be attributed solely to their marijuana smoking.

Young people who choose to experiment with marijuana are fundamentally the same people, socially and psychologically, as those who use alcohol and tobacco.

No verification is found of a causal relationship between marijuana use and subsequent heroin use.”

The weight of the evidence is that marijuana does not cause violent or aggressive behavior; if anything marijuana serves to inhibit the expression of such behavior.

Marijuana is not generally viewed by participants in the criminal justice community as a major contributing influence in the commission of delinquent or criminal acts.

Neither the marijuana user nor the drug itself can be said to constitute a danger to public safety.

Marijuana’s relative potential for harm to the vast majority of individual users and its actual impact on society does not justify a social policy designed to seek out and firmly punish those who use it.

About David Waters

David Waters is a local news columnist for The Commercial Appeal. He writes about people, places and issues that have an impact on the community.